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Sunday, March 21, 2010

Lessons from Pancakes

Hey everybody, this is B.I like to think of myself as a pancake master; a characteristic I’m sure I inherited from my dad who has self-proclaimed himself as the maker of “the world’s greatest pancakes.” Having said that, today was the first day I decided to distance myself from beginning with a basic pancake batter box of ingredients, and instead, start from scratch.Let me first say that after my disastrous experience, I will never take that magical box for granted again.Which brings me to my first lesson learned:Never underestimate the importance of proper measuring when attempting to make a new recipe (unless you don’t mind making it several times before you get it right).There’s a reason those boxes filled with predetermined measurements of specific ingredients were created.They take out a lot of the guesswork.

Now lesson number two is a little more ego deflating.As a person who prides himself on his ability to make small adaptations to recipes to make them my own, of course my preparation of pancake batter would be no different.I’ve done it in the past when making pancakes, and most of the time, had a high rate of success.But without having the basic pancake foundation (previously found in the box), my additional changes didn’t allow me to learn where I had gone wrong with the basic recipe.So lesson number two learned:Basics first, adaptation later.Next time I make anything from scratch, my focus will be to get the initial ingredients correct before I start adding my secret ingredients.

These lessons certainly aren’t absolutes.And I can pretty much guarantee next time I’m in the kitchen making something new, if I see something on the countertop I think might take what I’m making to the next level, I’ll probably throw it in.But now that I’ve developed my own box of basic lessons, I don’t see too much harm in a little adaptation.